Here at First and Goal, we have very important and pressing announcement to make:

OMGzzzz!!!!11!!!1

I IS HAZ GINTER!!!1!

OMG!!! Allen & Ginter!

That is all. You may now return to your previously scheduled activities.

For those of you who are curious, yes, this bad boy is ready and raring to go for the annual Gint-a-Cuffs competition. Last year, I had to do a faux Gint-a-Cuffs entry because I had missed the entry deadline (my inability to make quick decisions led me to buying a box about a month or two later than everyone else). But this year, I’m in. In fact, the box is all ripped and mostly written up, I just need to scan everything and wait for the official scoring rules.

So I happened to notice something interesting yesterday. I suddenly started getting a bunch of emails about people liking my A Look Back: 1894 Mayo post from quite a while ago. I didn’t know why. Then I noticed that apparently a Yahoo! news blog article was linking to the story because a Michigan family has discovered a complete set of the famed 1894 Mayo football set. My all-time views was sitting at 49,407 on Tuesday. Now it is well over 131,500.

Hmmm.

So thanks, Yahoo.

Oh, and if you’re only finding this blog because of the Yahoo story, but you really are interested in sports cards, be sure to checkout our Cards of the Month Club where a rather nominal monthly subscription will get cards shipped right to your mail box every month!

If you are curious and not scared to enter a weird circular vortex, you can read the Yahoo story here.

Just a quick update to let everyone know that the products for the next few months of the Cards of the Month Club have been selected and posted. Just jump over to www.firstandgoalsportscards.com/cardclub.html and click on each sport to see the lineup. Basketball is still a bit of a struggle with a lot of products being cancelled after the whole NBA labor debacle, but Baseball is heating up now that the brand new 2012 products are hitting the shelves!

If you are not already a member of the Cards of the Month Club, consider joining today!

Wow. It looks like I’ve been out of commission around these parts for a while. I guess increased time committments at home (baby), with family (holiday season), and work (planning for year end) have really cut into my blogging time. So much for that 2011 New Year’s Resolution that said I would post more often and actually keep up with the HOF Spotlights and Heisman Highlights, let alone product reviews, group breaks, and random musings. Nothing has been terminated, I just need to find more time in the day, or better yet, learn to be far more efficient with my limited time.

There is another item that has been commanding my time. As many of you know, 1st & Goal Sportscards became an officially licensed business in Pennsylvania in January. Sales on eBay have been doing great and I’ve been able to partner with a few friends to offer even more stuff than I could have by myself. In an attempt to take things to the next level (and avoid all those damn eBay fees), I’ve been working on something more in-house.

And that something is now ready for the public to see.

The 1st & Goal Sportscards Online Store is officially open for business! I realize the online “shelves” are quite fully stocked like you’d expect from a local hobby shop or a giant online retailer, but we’re hoping to grow our offerings over the coming weeks/months. We also still have some imaging work to finish up to make everything look spot on. But the store is fully navigable and functioning. Be sure to check it out, especially the Supplies aisle where we have even more products in stock than we’ve previously carried in our eBay Store.

Thanks for the support from anyone and everyone who has ever purchased something from us. Hopefully many more of you will find something you like at reasonable prices in the new store. If you don’t see something you’re interested in, let us know. We’re always willing to consider stocking new items if we know there is a demand.

Don’t forget, this is the last week to join 1st & Goal’s Cards of the Month Club for the December shipment. All subscriptions paid before 11/20 will be included in the 12/1 mailing. Subscriptions after 11/20 will obviously be accepted, but will have to wait until the 1/1 mailing to begin receiving cards each month.

Not sure what all the fuss is about? Check out the Cards of the Month Club page on our website. The December shipment for each Club type includes:

Now, you won’t notice a change in this blog’s web address and you won’t have to go around and change all of your blogroll links or browser bookmarks. The blog isn’t going anywhere. In fact, it will still reside and operate exactly as it always has. There is simply a new central point for all that 1st & Goal Sportscards has to offer.

The site isn’t the most attractive or sophisticated and the new store isn’t quite up and running yet, but the site is finally live, which is what I’m excited about. I’m also really stoked about the unveiling of my new Cards of the Month Club. You can read all about it on the new site. Hopefully it will interest you and you’ll consider subscribing.

So if you have some time, please poke around and let me know what you think!